According to an article written by LCol (Retired) James D. Lumsden, on the outbreak of war in Sep 1939, the Commissioner of the RCMP made a recommendation to the Minister of Justice that authority be granted to form a Provost Company from RCMP volunteers. Approval was granted for the formation of No. 1 Provost Company (RCMP). This Company would later provide Military Police support to 1 Canadian Infantry Division.

As additional Canadian Army units were mobilized and moved to England, each was accompanied by its own Provost Company. Additional Provosts were established with senior formations including the Canadian Military Headquarters (CMHQ) based in London, HQ No. 1 and HQ No. 2 of the Canadian Corps, and at Reinforcement Units. In addition to the Provost companies, a Detention Barracks, a training depot and special investigation sections were also established. In Canada, 18 Provost Companies were located in each of the Military Districts and Commands. A-32, the Canadian Provost Corps (C Pro C) Training Center was also established.

On 15 June 1940, Privy Council Order 67/3030 authorized the Canadian Provost Corps as the primary organization responsible for the development of all personnel assigned to police duties as their primary role in the war. As the C Pro C developed, their duties grew to include the following:

Movement plans, including those in forward and rear units and in lines of communication areas;

Provision of advice on the capacity and adequacy of routes; the degree and type of traffic control required; and resources required and whether available resources were adequate.

Supervision and enforcement of discipline outside unit lines;

Operation of the formation Prisoner of War (PW) cage;

Movement of PW to PW camps in Canada;

Control of refugee movement;

Collection, control and disposal of stragglers;

Operation of Detention Barracks; and

Liaison with other civilian and MPs.

These duties were performed in Canada, the UK, Italy, Sicily, Northwest Europe and Asia. The demand for MP support at home and abroad led to the expansion of the C Pro C to a strength of 6,120 personnel in 1945.

The C Pro C sent a detachment of 8 men (1 Sergeant, 1 Corporal and six Lance Corporals) with the Canadian Army Contingent (which included the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada), to Hong Kong in December 1941. These soldier fought until taken prisoner, three died while incarcerated as PW.

On 18 Aug 1942, 41 members of the C Pro C participated in Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe Raid. They were tasked to provide control on the beach and to secure PW. Only 22 of them returned to the UK, and of the 19, Lt Peter Oliver was killed in action (KIA) and 19 became PW. 25 were wounded (WIA).

The C Pro C played a significant role in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, ensuring road movement over extremely difficult terrain. The end of the Italian campaign culminated in Operation Goldflake which saw the transfer of all Canadians in Italy to Northwest Europe in Feb and March 1945.

On 6 June 1944, six sections of No. 4 Provost Company landed in Normandy, followed on 29 June by No. 13 Provost Company, and many others in the following days. The C Pro C provided tremendous support in the battles across Northwest Europe leading the final unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.

Members of the Canadian Provost Corps guarding the first German prisoners to be captured by Canadian soldiers in the Normandy beachhead, France, 6 June 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191650)

Personnel of the Canadian Provost Corps outside "The Pop Inn", the new Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (NAAFI) canteen, Caen, France, 27 July 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225578)

Two Corporals of the 2nd Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps, exchanging notes on the hood of their jeep in the Reichswald, Germany, 20 March 1945. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3206421)

General H.D.G. Crerar taking the salute at a parade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on the first anniversary of D-Day, Utrecht, Netherlands, 6 June 1945. C Pro C motorcyclist ahead of a Staghound Armoured Recce Vehicle. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3204004)

Private H.E. Easterbrook and Lance-Corporal T. Mudd, both of No.5 Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps (C.P.C.), riding special grey horses at a Thanksgiving church service and parade, Groningen, Netherlands, 19 August 1945. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524773)

Private Maurice Richard (right), Canadian Provost Corps, talking with students of the Khaki University of Canada, who ride in a jeep driven by Lance-Bombardier R.S. Hughes, Leavesden, England, 15 April 1946. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3518851).

Frederick Walter Estabrooks, Canadian Army Provost Corps (C Pro C)

The author's uncle, Frederick Walter Estabrooks, served with the Canadian Provost Corps in Europe during the Second World War.

Frederick Walter Estabrooks

Frederick W. Estabrooks joined the Canadian Army at the age of 16 in Woodstock, New Brunswick late in 1942 and then did basic training in Fredericton before being posted to Sydney, Cape Breton, where he served with a Coastal Defence unit manning searchlights. He was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia for course in mechanics. In May 1943 he sailed to England on the Queen Mary along with 20,000 other Canadian troops and landed at Southampton.

In England, Frederick joined No. 11 Provost Company of the Canadian Provost Corps (C Pro C) serving with the Military Police until the end of the war. No. 11 Provost Company was part of the 1st Canadian Army HQ. Frederick would have worn a red and blue diamond patch over his C Pro C shoulder flash.

Fred Estabrooks, C Pro C in England. He is in the second row, fourth from the left.

During his training in England in 1943 as a C Pro C Policeman, Frederick met some very interesting people. On one occasion he spoke with 16-year old Princess Elizabeth while her father the King was inspecting Canadian troops. This photo is of HRH Princess Elizabeth about two years later when she was serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, April 1945. Her Majesty still drives her own vehicle on Sundays. (British Government Photo TR2832)

Frederick went ashore at Juno Beach on 11 June, the 5th day of the landings at Normandy, with two C Pro C sections, 26 motorcycles, and two jeeps on a landing barge.

Frederick saw and spoke with Winston Churchill while patrolling routes for convoys through the Reichswald Forest in Germany. This is a photo of Winston Churchill and American Generals on a balcony watching Allied vehicles crossing the Rhine River into Germany, 25 Mar 1945. (Sgt Morris, No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, IWM Photo)

Frederick spoke with General Harry Crerar, Commander of the Canadian Army, at a rest stop on one of the routes where Fred was directing traffic. He was also in a group of Canadian troops addressed by General Bernard Montgomery in England and again later in Antwerp. This is a photo of Canadian Lieutenant-General Guy Granville Simonds, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Canadian General Henry Crerar at Allied Headquarters, Feb 1945 about the time Fred would have seen them. (IWM Photo).

He saw General McNaughton and General Eisenhower about the same time. This photo of General Eisenhower was taken in France late in 1944. (Eisenhower Library Photo)

Frederick's personal side-arm was a Browning 9-mm semi-automatic pistol. This one is on display in the New Brunswick Military History Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick. (Author Photo)

Harley-Davidson Type WLC 1942 motorcycle, ca 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3613098). At this time he was still serving with No. 11 Provost Company attached to 1st Canadian Army Headquarters. He rode a Harley Davidson 40/41 low clearance motorcycle which he felt was too low.

Fred described using a number of different military motorcycles during his service as a policeman and dispatch rider during the war, and this led the author to investigate what they were. A number of useful photos of Canadian military motorcycles in service during the Second World War can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website, and a few of them are included here.

Canadian military motorcycles have been in use with various elements of the Canadian Forces since at least 1908. For specific and detailed information on the subject of the Canadian use of military motorcycles, the author highly recommends the 2010 book put together by author Clive M. Law. He has compiled an impressive history on the subject with the title "Military Motorcycles in Canada", Service Publications, Box 33071, Ottawa, Ontario. Clive recently passed away, but his son is keeping his stories alive, through his website at www.servicepub.com.

Frederick was at Rouen, France with No. 4 Provost Company riding Norton and Triumph motorcycles.

While Frederick was directing traffic in the battles North of Caen in France, he lost his motorcycle to shell fire. He was then attached to the No. 3 Provost Company with the 3rd Canadian Division, which wore a red diamond patch on their uniforms.

Canadian armour and infantry observing the aerial bombing of German positions from a forming up point (FUP) in preparation for continued heavy fighting through Normandy on the Caen-Falaise Road, France, 8 Aug 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4164905)

Frederick was in the vicinity of the unfortunate Allied bombing of the Polish Armoured forces serving under the Canadian Corps when they suffered tremendous casualties. He counted more than 200 ambulances on one of the roads he was traffic controlling, and on at least one occasion had to use his pistol to order an officer’s staff car off the road to make way for the ambulances. His supervisor, Sergeant-Major Ray Chambers took note and approved.

German Second World War 8.8-cm FlaK 37 AA Gun captured near near Bayeux, France, 26 Aug 1944, being examined by Canadian soldiers. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396244).

On 14 November 1944 a shell hit close enough to Frederick to destroy his motorcycle and blow him up over the cab of an oncoming truck near Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He bounced off the hood of the cab on the truck and landed in a water-filled ditch on the other side. The German 8.8-cm shell fragments took a chunk out of his right arm and pieces went through the calf of his left leg, leaving his legs black and blue for months. He was sent to the Casualty Clearing Post at Cenocky sur Mer, and then to the 6th Brigade General Hospital in Antwerp for five weeks to convalesce about the time of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 through to March 1945.

Following his recovery he was sent to No. 4 Provost Company with the 3rd Division in Antwerp, which wore a light blue rectangle patch on their shoulders, and then to No. 13 Provost Company with II Corps, with the dark blue diamond patch. He was on traffic control duty and served as the Company Dispatch Driver in a Willys Jeep, moving up to Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and then across the border into Germany. He passed through Goch and on to Bad Zwishenheim over the next three to four weeks, where he was serving when the war ended on 8 May 1945. He then volunteered for duty in the Pacific War with Japan.

The business of Canadian Military Policemen and women serving overseas continued long after the end of the Second World War. This author had the priviledge of serving with 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, which included 4 MP Platoon, in Lahr, Germany.